Black Screen after Boot up with Windows 7

[cakjvku]

I have a major problem with windows 7 home premium which was an upgrade over vista. A while back I started having problems when I ran windows update. Almost every time it ran and I rebooted later all I got was a black screen with the mouse curser. When I rebooted a second time I got my desktop but none of my programs would load. I would get the spiral and then it stopped. The hard drive was chugging away. I usually got around this by going back 2 or 3 systems restores and then it worked fine. I recently used revo uninstaller to get rid of a program and to clean up the registry. It created a system restore and then I rebooted. When I rebooted I got a message of some disk problems and ran 3 corrective actions (I don't know what they do) including chkdsk and then rebooted. I got my desktop again but nothing loaded. I did safe bootup to get to the system restore but they had all disappeared. Apparently either the disk or registry got corrupted. I can go on the internet in safe mode or load programs but can't print. I would love to be able solve the problem why programs can't load so I wouldn't be dependent on systems restore and get my laptop running normally. It is a Dell inspiron with intel core 2 duo.

I do have a backup on a external hard drive but can't get to that which is another issue.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Combat Wombat]

Comment:
Upgrading rather than completing a clean install is a bad idea, because you will have a windows 7 UI, with a windows 7 Reg, but it will run like Vista.. and you dont want that..

What you should have done:

You should have completed a backup of your data, retrieved all your serial numbers with the correct software, installed windows 7, and applied updates, drivers, and all your applications. This clean installation over the top of Vista means there is no chance of running into corrective actions, ect.

What to do now:

Now your choices are limited, I would just do now is "What you should have done"

Use, Windows system information & Magic Jelly bean to retrieve you serial's for your software and operating system.

Bean:
http://download.cnet.com/Magical-Jelly-Bean-Keyfinder/3000-18487_4-10079600.html

Windows system info:
http://download.cnet.com/Windows-System-Information-Utility-by-HeidiR/3000-2094_4-10897455.html

You should be able to load on this software once the installer is on an external devices and is plugged in and running under safe mode.

Hope this helps, feel free to correct me if i'm missing something.

 

[winquist]

I was able to troubleshoot a similar issue. Windows 7, booted fine but after credentials entered, I only got a black screen with mouse and ability to ctrl-alt-del for task-manager etc. However wasn't able to run explorer.
Solution:
1) Boot in safe mode. If doesn't work, this instruction will not help you.
2) run msconfig from start (just enter it into the text box in windows menu)
3) Under startup tab, disable all. Apply.
4) Boot again. IF it now works, problem lies with the apps being loaded.
5) Try out which application is causing trouble and remove stuff you can survive anyway without using msconfig
6) When done, msconfig apparently is only temporary fix for booting. You need to "permanently" remove the bad apps from loading. You can use e.g. "Autoruns
for windows" where you can edit the registry permanently

PS. Maybe someone more tech savvy can improve my instructions. However, this worked for me.